At Forma, recycling isn’t just something we do on the side. It’s the whole point.

But we’re not interested in just chopping materials up and passing them on. That’s not what this is. The goal is to take waste and turn it into something people actually want to use. Something that makes sense, looks good, and lasts.

We try to get the most out of every material we work with. Not forcing it into something it’s not, but working with what’s already there. Keeping the character, the strength, and the story, and building something new from it.

That all started with climbing rope.

There’s loads of rope getting retired every year across the UK. Most of it still has plenty of life left in it, but it gets thrown out anyway. Forma started by collecting that rope and turning it into belts, accessories, and everyday products.

Not as a novelty, but as proper retail-ready products that just happen to come from waste.

But rope was never the end goal. It was just the starting point.

Now we’re starting to work with other materials as well, especially plastics like HDPE and polypropylene. Same idea, just applied wider. Take something that’s being overlooked and turn it into something useful again.

The aim is simple. Take waste, design it properly, and make something better out of it.

Over time, that builds into something bigger. A system where materials stay in use for longer and don’t just get thrown away after one life.

Long term, the goal is to eliminate climbing rope waste in the UK by 2030. Not by talking about it, but by actually creating demand for it through the products we make.

Forma sits somewhere between design, making, and material reuse. It’s about building things properly and showing that waste can still be valuable if you treat it right.

At the end of the day, it’s not about recycling for the sake of it.

It’s about proving that waste can actually be turned into something worth keeping.